"Nor is it in my nature to receive your humiliation. Before I learned the truth about my affliction, I accepted other people's obeisance because I believed it was really being offered to the gods, and not to me."
"That is as true as it ever was. Those who believe you are godspoken are offering their obeisance to the gods, while those who are dishonest do it to flatter you."
"But you are not dishonest. Nor do you believe the gods speak to me."
"I don't know whether the gods speak to you or not, or whether they ever have or ever can speak to anyone. I only know that the gods don't ask you or anyone to do these ridiculous, humiliating rituals--those were forced on you by Congress. Yet you must continue those rituals because your body requires it. Please allow me to continue the rituals of humiliation that are required of people of my position in the world."
Master Han nodded gravely. "You are wise beyond your years and education, Wang-mu."
"I am a very foolish girl," said Wang-mu. "If I had any wisdom, I would beg you to send me as far away from this place as possible. Sharing a house with Qing-jao will now be very dangerous to me. Especially if she sees that I am close to you, when she can't be."
"You're right. I'm being very selfish, to ask you to stay."
"Yes," said Wang-mu. "And yet I will stay."
"Why?" asked Master Han.
"Because I can never go back to my old life," she answered. "I know too much now about the world and the universe, about Congress and the gods. I would have the taste of poison in my mouth all the days of my life, if I went back home and pretended to be what I was before."
Master Han nodded gravely, but then he smiled, and soon he laughed.
"Why are you laughing at me, Master Han?"
"I'm laughing because I think that you never were what you used to be."
"What does that mean?"
"I think you were always pretending. Maybe you even fooled yourself. But one thing is certain. You were never an ordinary girl, and you could never have led an ordinary life."
Wang-mu shrugged. "The future is a hundred thousand threads, but the past is a fabric that can never be rewoven. Maybe I could have been content. Maybe not."
"So here we are together, the three of us."
Only then did Wang-mu turn to see that they were not alone. In the air above the display she saw the face of Jane, who smiled at her.
"I'm glad you came back," said Jane.
For a moment, Jane's presence here caused Wang-mu to leap to a hopeful conclusion. "Then you aren't dead! You've been spared!"
"It was never Qing-jao's plan for me to be dead already," answered Jane. "Her plan to destroy me is proceeding nicely, and I will no doubt die on schedule."
"Why do you come to this house, then," asked Wang-mu, "when it was here that your death was set in motion?"
"I have a lot of things to accomplish before I die," said Jane, "including the faint possibility of discovering a way to survive. It happens that the world of Path contains many thousands of people who are much more intelligent, on average, than the rest of humanity."
"Only because of Congress's genetic manipulation," said Master Han.
"True," said Jane. "The godspoken of Path are, properly speaking, not even human anymore. You're another species, created and enslaved by Congress to give them an advantage over the rest of humanity. It happens, though, that a single member of that new species is somewhat free of Congress."
"This is freedom?" said Master Han. "Even now, my hunger to purify myself is almost irresistible."
"Then don't resist it," said Jane. "I can talk to you while you contort yourself."
Almost at once, Master Han began to fling out his arms and twist them in the air in his ritual of purification. Wang-mu turned her face away.
"Don't do that," said Master Han. "Don't hide your face from me. I can't be ashamed to show this to you. I'm a cripple, that's all; if I had lost a leg, my closest friends would not be afraid to see the stump."
Wang-mu saw the wisdom in his words, and did not hide her face from his affliction.